“The L.A. Complex” (8 p.m. Central Tuesdays on The CW), which can be sneak-previewed at Hulu and premieres on old-fashioned TV on Tuesday, repackages the tried-and-true clichés about trying to make it in show business in a zesty, fast-paced way. Comparing first episodes, it blows away NBC’s polished, dull and much-more-hyped “Smash.”
It feels a little like those light-but-addictive Canadian shows on The-N about five years ago, notably “Instant Star,” which makes sense, because the executive producers worked on that show and “Degrassi.” But — despite being partially shot in Toronto and originally airing on Canada’s MuchMusic — “Complex” also vibrantly depicts Los Angeles, both with gorgeous nighttime cityscapes and grimy, sweaty specifics such as broke Abby (“Degrassi” veteran Cassie Steele) trying to make it to an audition on time after her highly ticketed car gets a boot on it and she has to take the bus.
The first episode of “Complex” — named after a ratty but always-partying hotel-turned-apartment-building where most of the characters live — feels like something we’ll look back on a few seasons later and think, “Wow, L.A. was scary when they first moved there.” I suspect the drama will mellow a bit from this point forward and things will start to fall into place for Abby and her friends. And hey, that’s real: Whether it’s L.A. or a Midwestern small town, it’s scary to move someplace where you don’t know anyone and your future is up in the air.
However, like “Degrassi” — which has been “SO going there” for decades — I think “Complex” will have a fair amount of edge to it, and maybe even a bit of depth. Abby’s journey in the pilot episode already provides mild shockers. On paper, Abby’s taking ecstasy, having unprotected sex, taking the morning-after pill, barfing at an audition and taking a job at a strip club is merely a list of “things we’ve seen on TV before,” particularly Canadian teen dramas and The CW.
But on screen, it works, because the hectic flow of events is addictive, and Abby is a likable character; Steele plays her as more vulnerable, but also more outwardly calm, than Manny Santos. Understated and vaguely cruel humor abounds, with lines like: “There’s an old saying in show business. When there’s vomit on the piano, the audition is over.”
It’s also nice to see Jewel Staite in a series again, although Raquel won’t be confused with her characters from “Higher Ground” (brooding goth Daisy) or “Firefly” (always chipper Kaylee). Raquel is a bitter “aging” actress, in the sense that she’s being passed over for teen roles but is too young for mom roles — and those mom roles aren’t exactly what she wants anyway.
In one of the best scenes in the pilot, Raquel rants at a casting director for her “color-blind casting,” which is code for “no white actors,” and argues to no avail that in real life, a white main character is more likely to have a white best friend than a black best friend. Then she gets to leave the waiting room full of black actresses with her tail between her legs. When watching cop or law shows, we don’t necessarily know if TV is getting it right; however, I trust that TV knows TV, and I think “Complex” will continue to give us fresh peeks into the frustrating reality of the biz that go a bit deeper than the obvious.
In L.A., the naïve newcomers (those who don’t go crawling back home, as Abby considers doing before the strip-club job presents itself) learn about how the city functions. Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson) is interning for a rapper — a made-for-TV complete jerk, as are his crew — who relentlessly belittles Tariq but accurately tells him the internship has bought him one lesson: How a music studio operates. (This storyline, so far, is the most obvious of the bunch.)
As the series goes forward, we’ll no doubt see initially innocent characters like Tariq, failing comedian Nick (Joe Dinicol), hot-out-of-the-gates actor Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore), and hit-and-miss backup dancer Alicia (Chelan Simmons) do some unappealing things to get ahead — indeed, Alicia is the one who introduces Abby to the easy money of the gentlemen’s club. And we’ll probably see not-so-kind people like Raquel do some good things.
No one’s going to change the Way Things are Done in L.A. from within, nor is “The L.A. Complex” going to reinvent these old storylines about how the cruel world changes people. But it has good pacing, acting and writing, and L.A. pops off the screen. I’ll be coming back for episode two.
What did you think of the premiere episode of “The L.A. Complex?”